Here’s why we should stop weeding.

Learn to love our dandelions and brambles

Level 3: Advanced

1
  Warmer

a. Find the words in the wordpool in the wordsearch puzzle below. Then look them up in a
dictionary and match them to their meanings.

bindweed      bramble      dandelion      dock      thistle

v d c i c d k c h o

x f a z w o c a b x

t b o n j c z z n n

h c i u d k p z x z

i p e n n e d t z n

s c x f d l l r e d

t a k o m w h i f l

l l g z y s e n o q

e y t d t v f e b n

b r a m b l e u d g

1. : a wild plant with a thick, round, purple or white flower and leaves
with sharp points. It is often used as a symbol of Scotland.

2. : a wild plant with large leaves

3. : a wild plant with a large yellow flower that changes into a furry
white ball of seeds called a “clock”

4. : a wild plant that grows among other plants and winds itself
around them

5. : a bush with thin sharp points on its long branches, especially one
that produces blackberries
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 Here’s why we should stop weeding. Learn to love our dandelions and brambles
Level 3: Advanced

2
  Key words

a. Find the missing words in the text. The paragraph numbers are given to help you.

1. If something is , it can quickly become healthy, happy or strong

again after an illness, disappointment or other problem. (paragraph 1)

2. If something is , it is intended to destroy the power or influence of a

government or an established belief. (paragraph 2)

3. is a powder produced by flowers. It is carried by the wind or insects

to other flowers so that they can produce new seeds. (paragraph 3)

4. is a sweet liquid that some flowers make and that insects and birds
drink. (paragraph 3)

5. An is a small animal without a backbone, for example, an insect or

a worm. (paragraph 3)

6. A plant lasts for more than two growing seasons. (paragraph 4)

7. To is to put or leave something somewhere. (paragraph 4)

8. To is to gradually damage the surface of rock or land so that it

begins to disappear or be progressively damaged. (paragraph 4)

9. To is to say unpleasant things about someone or something,

usually unfairly. (paragraph 4)

10. A is a small hole or space. (paragraph 8)

11. If something or someone is , they are big, beautiful, or impressive in

a calm and serious way. (paragraph 9)

12. To is to take care of someone or something. (paragraph 9)

13. To is to remove parts of a tree or plant, for example, to make it

grow better. (paragraph 9)
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 Here’s why we should stop weeding. Learn to love our dandelions and brambles
Level 3: Advanced
b. Complete the sentences with words from the previous activity. You might have to change the
form of the word.

1. She studies and writes about spiders, worms, and other .

2. Peonies are flowers that go dormant in the winter and bloom

every spring.

3. Cauliflower, a long- vegetable, is making a comeback.

4. I love basil, and I have tried to keep some on my windowsill, but without success; it is not a very
plant.

5. Mangrove forests can help prevent coastal areas from .

6. Storage spaces usually offer plenty of well-hidden for house

spiders.

7. Paramedics have arrived and are the injured.

8. A fungi network processes and nutrients in the soil so other plants

can absorb them.

9. Her latest novel is controversial, but it has been praised and described as
by critics.

10. I suffer from allergies in the spring when there is a lot of in the air.

11. I our lavender twice a year and remove all dead stems.

12. Have you ever seen a giraffe in the wild? It is such a beautiful and
animal.

13. Ants, bats, and sunbirds all feed on .

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 Here’s why we should stop weeding. Learn to love our dandelions and brambles
Level 3: Advanced
Weeds protect the soil and nurture
insects and birds – now they are
finally having their time in the sun
at the Chelsea Flower Show
Alys Fowler
26 April, 2023
1 The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has
declared that the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show
is all about weeds but not as we know them.
Four of its 12 show gardens will feature plants
traditionally regarded as weeds, which are now
being rebranded as “resilient” and “heroes”.
Weeds are no longer flowers in the wrong
place, according to this year’s organisers, but
exactly where they should be, softening the
designer’s edge and adding a wild note to
far corners.
2 Except it’s not really new: wild things have
been creeping into Chelsea for many years
now. Just ask Mary Reynolds, the Irish
environmentalist and author whose
gold-winning show garden in 2002 was noted
for its “subversive use of weeds”, plants that
she is still very much using today in her design
work.
3 This championing of the humble weed by the
RHS comes in the face of mounting evidence
that weeds are doing far more than taking up
resources – they are giving back. Many of our
weeds are intricate parts of the food web. They
flower at the right time of year to be important
sources of pollen and nectar for pollinators,
and their leaves, roots and seeds act as
larval food for other insects. Weeds, as the
RHS notes, are resilient by nature; they often
flower repeatedly, whatever the weather, and
will grow in poor, thin, baked, compacted and
made-of-pure-rubble soils. They are a buffet
that is always open and readily available to
invertebrates, unlike more highly bred plants
that have lost their nectar and pollen sources
to larger or multiple petals, deeper scents or
different colours. Too often, this breeding for
our eyes or our tastebuds is to the detriment of
the wider food web.
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4 Weeds feed the soil too. Many perennial
weeds have deep root systems that break up
compacted soils and mine the subsoil layers
for minerals and nutrients, depositing them on
the soil surface as their leaves die back. Annual
weeds are often the first flush of protection for
bare soil, their quick lifecycles timed perfectly to
protect the critical biologically active top layers
of soil so necessary for life, so easily damaged
and eroded by weather if left bare. Though
much-maligned, weeds protect, build and feed
our soil system as they grow.
5 Ecologists, wild gardeners, rewilders and
regenerative growers have all been singing
weeds’ praises for some time for all these
reasons, but designers less so. Theirs is the
business of aesthetics, often through control
and manipulation, so for there to suddenly be
a chorus of them purposely using weeds as a
design tool … well, that is a change indeed.
6 “But what of the beastly ones?” I hear you cry.
Everyone can learn to love some daisies in
their lawn, but docks, brambles, bindweed and
dandelions – can you learn to love this lot?
7 Yes, I think you can. All have uses. The
bramble’s thorns act as a protective home to
the songbirds trying to hide from the cat, to say
nothing of the flowers, buzzing with bees and
other pollinators in midsummer and the berries
we greedily pick. Some are less easy to love,
like bindweed, but it is a source of pollen for
insects and a food source for the convolvulus
hawk-moth.
8 That designers are starting to use some of
these plants in their show gardens, even ones
that have a reputation for being difficult to
control, such as brambles and thistles, is a sign
that we are finally getting the message that our
natural habitats are in danger at every level
and that our gardens are part of the solution.
They are both a habitat in their own right and a
vital link to the wider, wilder ones. This is best
achieved if our gardens are dynamic with many
different ecological niches for things to thrive
in – weeds offer up a myriad of different ways
to do this without chemicals, without feeding,
watering or even sowing.
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 Here’s why we should stop weeding. Learn to love our dandelions and brambles
Level 3: Advanced
9 That they can be appreciated in this light
and aesthetically, too, is genuinely cheering.
Spend time looking at them as plants rather
than weeds, and you will notice that each has
a beauty to it. A drift of the rusty seedheads
of dock against a backdrop of summer-blond
grasses or a bank of dandelions thick in flower:
these are majestic plants worthy of inclusion
in designs. They just need tending, like all
the other plants in your garden – mowing
the dandelions before they set seed, pruning
brambles as you would a berry, pulling up the
seedhead of dock before they shatter.
10 I never thought I’d write this: let the designers,
then, show you how to ease up on weeding
and leave space for these valuable plants, for
their time has truly come.
© Guardian News and Media 2023
First published in The Guardian, 26/04/2023

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 Here’s why we should stop weeding. Learn to love our dandelions and brambles
Level 3: Advanced

3
  Comprehension check

a. Decide if each statement is True (T), False (F), or Not Given (NG). Correct any that are false.

1. Dandelions have stolen the show at the Chelsea Flower Show this year.

2. Mary Reynolds was heavily criticised for including weeds in her 2002 garden and nearly
disqualified from the show.

3. Weeds are essential for the food web because they provide larval food, nectar and pollen to
insects and pollinators.

4. Weeds are known as the “heroes” of the worm world because they support worms more than any
other insects.

5. Flowers intentionally bred to look a certain way often lose some other characteristics that make
them beneficial to the food web.

6. Weeds’ leaves feed the soil; dead leaves help prevent erosion.

7. Weeds have been appreciated for their aesthetics for decades.

8. The author thinks gardens should include weeds for living things to thrive.

9. The author says weeds should grow wild and not be tended like other plants in a garden.

10. Brambles are the author’s weed of choice.

4
  Key language

a. Complete the noun phrases from the article.

1. subversive of weeds (paragraph 2)

2. in the of mounting evidence (paragraph 3)

3. to the of the wider food web (paragraph 3)

4. a of them purposely using weeds (paragraph 5)

5. a of pollen for insects (paragraph 7)

6. a of different ways to do this (paragraph 8)

7. dock against a of summer-blond grasses (paragraph 9)

8. plants of inclusion (paragraph 9)

b. Choose five of the phrases above and use them in personalised sentences.
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 Here’s why we should stop weeding. Learn to love our dandelions and brambles
Level 3: Advanced

5
  Discussion

a. Discuss these statements.

• “Gardening is a power struggle between man and nature.”

• “There are absolutely no valid reasons for weeding.”

• “All plants are beautiful, and weeds are no exception.”

• “The best gardens are wild gardens.”

6
  In your own words

a. Create a field guide with at least three examples of weeds that grow where you live. You can
use an app or online resources to identify them. Complete the table below with information
about each plant that you choose.

Weed 1: Weed 2: Weed 3:

drawing/image

description of roots,
stems, leaves, flowers

environment in
which it grows (soil,
light, water)

insect and animal life

around it

other facts

how/where it might be
found in a garden

b. Report your findings.

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